What ARE king bettas? There seems to be so little known about giant and king bettas out there. I am trying to do research but there's just nothing out there.

I'm just curious since Monstro is pretty obviously massive. He's from Petco and is a 'king betta'. I tried to eyeball measure him with a ruler through the glass and he is roughly 3 inches long, not including his tail. Roughly 2 times the size of my normal bettas. He is super active and aggressive and just such an impressive fish to watch swim around. I don't know how much of it is the fact he's a plakat or how much is that he's a king but he's just a very different kind of fish compared to my past bettas. I'm pretty sure the rest of my bettas will be kings or giants. I'm just hooked.

I read that article and it does offer a few of the common theories. But I've heard literally dozens of theories about what they are- giants? half-giants? hybrid species? regular plakats? fighting bred surplus? given growth hormones?

He is certainly much more aggressive than my past bettas. I bought him because his size intrigued me. I need to get an official measurement but I bet it's around 3 inches. His body is so thick though, he must weigh about 3 x what my others have. He's currently my only betta since Fish died.

1st day after I got him:

Today: My crap camera doesn't capture his color at all. He's still that blue but he does seem to have a bit more red wash than he used to.

This accidentally used the flash. I need to clean the outside of the tank lol.

And without it he looks black.

Are they not classified as plakats? And what about real giant bettas- how big are those?

As far as I am aware there is only one betta splendens just like there is only one Canis familiaris in all it's splendor and variety. Even the plakats as far as I know are just normal bettas bred for aggression/size for gaming/fish fights.